One video that I have been meaning to do is a lesson focused on those of you who have never (or rarely) used Excel, and needed an introduction to the program and how it works. I’ve created this lesson in an attempt to introduce the most basic information about what Excel is and go over some examples of what it could be used for.

Disclaimer: If you’re pretty familiar with Excel, this video may be boring. You have been warned!

Throughout the lesson, I explain the following information and questions in great detail:
– What am I looking at when I open Excel for the first time?
– Explanation of Column / Rows and how referencing works.
– Navigating Excel, knowing where you are in the spreadsheet, and the ‘name box’.
– Overview of sheets including adding, deleting, and renaming.
– Explanation of hard-coded values vs. formulas/functions, and Excel default cell formats.
– Formatting options including bold/underline, alignment (e.g. centering), and creating borders.
– Information about the formula bar, and how to use the ‘Insert Function’ feature..
– Example of creating a simple personal finance tracker and how to input information into Excel.
– Introduction to the Master Workbook, including the function listing and previews of examples from other lessons.

Feel free to show this lesson to anyone who wants to learn Excel but doesn’t know the first thing about getting started!